A bloody birthday

NOTHING shocks Nigerians. Just when you think you have seen it all, a more terrifying absurdity hits you right in the face and you start struggling to figure it out. But the events in the days leading up to the 53rd Independence Anniversary were really shocking, even by Nigeria’s standards.

I doubt if there is any horror movie producer who will not be petrified. A bank manager left Nasarawa for Abuja. In the car with him were his driver and a colleague. The journey was smooth; no stress and no traffic snarls. Suddenly, some armed men jumped onto the road. They stopped the car, ordered the driver and his passengers out and shot them dead. No questions. Shocking? Not quite? Wait for this: the evil men set the vehicle on fire and dug a big pit in which they buried the car and the bodies. Days after, the police found the grave and exhumed the car and the bodies. It was all ascribed to the Ombatse cult members.

Before anybody could make any sense of the savagery, another blood chilling event had occurred, this time in the heart of Abuja – the seat of the government and home of the rich and the powerful. Soldiers and Department of State Security Service (DSS) officers stormed an uncompleted building in the dead of the night while its occupants were fast asleep. They turned their rifles at the building, raising a huge smoke of horror. As the shots rang out, cries of agony shrilled through the night, according to neighbours. By the time the smoke subsided, no fewer than nine men lay dead. Another died later in the hospital.

Neighbours were frightened. The DSS claimed that the dead were Boko Haram members who, according to the security agents, fired the first shot. Those who knew the victims said they were people eked out a living as tricycle riders and menials without any rifle to fire. But the DSS insisted that some of them confessed to being members of Boko Haram.

There have been many questions since the incident occurred. Were weapons recovered from them? Where are the exhibits? If two suspects “confessed” to being Boko Haram members, is that good enough an indication that all the occupants were Boko Haram men? Did they resist arrest? How long was the investigation that led to the assault on the uncompleted building? Are we convinced that those were no extrajudicial killings, the type that provoked the blood guzzling monster that is Boko Haram insurgency?

The rumour is strong that the woman who owns the building, in a desperate attempt to eject the illegal occupants, told security agents that she suspected that they were Boko Haram members. Where is this landlady? Will she live in the house, with the ocean of blood created in there by the rain of bullets? Could this be true? The military and the DSS may have explained the killings as a mere routine in the fight against terrorism, but it is clear that they have put themselves in an invidious position. The argument will go on for long.

If the Abuja incident was contentious in its motive and the identities of those involved disputable, not so the massacre of students in Yobe. Students of the College of Agriculture, Gujba were in bed last Sunday when a group of armed men stormed their hostel, woke them up and lined them up outside where they were executed. Forty – the official figure – died immediately in the Boko Haram attack. One died the next day in the hospital.

Poor Governor Geidam. He was all tears. So were many parents who couldn’t find any sane reason for the mass murder of the innocent students. President Goodluck Jonathan was angry. But the popular thinking is that we did not do enough to show that we felt the pains of the parents who lost their children in that insanity. The mood was rather defiant – perhaps to show the architects of the madness that we will never bow; should this stop us from mourning the dead? – instead of being truly sober. Should we have carried on with the events of the 53rd Anniversary as if all was well? I do not think so. Shouldn’t we have declared a national day of mourning? I believe we should have.

But then, can you win such an argument in a country that is fast losing its humanity and the essence of life and living? A country where everything is reduced to politics and freedom as well as all the other ideals cherished by humanity are being curtailed by forces of evil.

A dark cloud of gloom fell on Kenya after the mall attack in which 67 people died. The world grieved with Kenya in its moment of trial. What national calamity could be greater than the massacre of 41 students – some are still missing – right in their hostel?

Before Gujba, there was Benisheik where scores of travellers were pulled out of vehicles and shot dead. The military retreated as the insurgents got the upper hand. Where is Boko Haram getting its weapons from? Who supplies the cash? Are the sect’s attacks planned in Nigeria? How helpful are our neighbours in confronting this wickedness? How strong is our intelligence network? For how long will Boko Haram reign?

The other day in Kokori, Delta State, a young man staged what amounted to a village square meeting where he railed against the state and the Federal governments for, according to him, neglecting the oil producing community. He issued a 60-day ultimatum for the governments to mend their ways or get whipped. Furious, the government went after Kelvin Prosper Oniarah (aka Ibruvwe), who is popularly known as Kelvin, a suspected hardened criminal whose specialty is kidnapping. In a matter of days, he was captured in Port Harcourt where he had gone frolicking with women of easy virtue. If Kelvin crossed the red line and was swiftly haunted down, how about Abubakar Shekau; has he not done enough havoc? Is it beyond our security agents’ capacity to seize him?

The Joint Task Force (JTF) once announced that Shekau had died after being injured in a gun duel. Then the man showed up in a video, mocking our military might. When will he sufficiently provoke the authorities to act? President Jonathan was reported as seeking United States President Barack Obama’s help in fighting Boko Haram; are we truly helpless – as it is thought in many informed circles?

But it was not all about blood and bullets. Love found – it will always do, even in the most stifling of situations – its way. Frontline businessman Emmmanuel Iwuanyanwu turned a beau all over again. Decked in a pair of suit and a tie, his shirt’s collar flying on one side, the chief,72, married a 26-year old beaming belle. The ways of love are, indeed, strange.

The All Progressives Congress(APC) said the economy had collapsed. States went to Abuja thrice to collect their monthly handout; thrice they came back empty handed. Some said there was really nothing to share; others claimed it was a mere row over disparities in figures. Asked on television to speak on the health of the economy, President Jonathan smiled and declared that all was well. His proof: he rang the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange. Can you beat that?

Consider Jos, Ombatse, Boko Haram, kidnappers and robbers as well as the army of illiterates we are breeding – varsity teachers remain on strike for three months – and think about Nigeria’s future. What is life worth here?

NCAA and Arik

VIATION authorities NCAA have sanctioned Nigeria’s leading carrier, Arik, for the unruly behaviour of its passengers who seized the tarmac in Abuja after being flown to Calabar where the aircraft could not land because it was late. The pilot returned to Abuja where it had been delayed because of a VIP movement.

It’s good to enforce the rules, but I think NCAA should temper justice with mercy. Arik would have had no business flying late if there had been no VIP movement in this country of VIPs who insist on getting first class treatment always. Besides, the airline couldn’t have been able to control its angry passengers. Some discretion, please.